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Microsoft Explains Why 'Halo 4' Didn't Debut On Xbox One

If there’s a common refrain going around the gaming industry right now, it’s that both the PS4 and Xbox One lack “system sellers,” games that by themselves make either console worth buying. Instead both console’s exclusives have middling scores at best, and third party titles available cross-console are generally the best titles to pick up for either system.

That has many asking why MicrosoftMicrosoft didn’t decide to push back Halo 4 so that it was a blockbuster Xbox One launch title, rather than one of the last breaths of the 360 when it was released last year. Microsoft vice president Phil Spencer spoke to Kotaku about the decision:

“I was committed to getting Halo 4 done last year, and there was no way we were going to turn around with 343 a full Halo game in a year. So that was the plan we set on. I feel good about that.”

“A discussion around having a Halo game at launch, a true Halo at launch, meaning like a Halo 4 or 5-size game, would have been something we’d have had to start two or three years ago. We had the discussion, and we thought having Halo 4 come out when it came out from 343 and having them really land their first full version of Halo that they developed internally would be great for the 360 customers, great for 343 in shipping something.”

On the surface, it makes sense. Halo 4 sold $300M worth of copies in its first week, and probably got a decent amount of dust-collecting 360s off of store shelves at the same time. Without it, Microsoft would have lacked a huge fall exclusive that year.

With that said, I think we’d be having a very different conversation right now had they pushed back the game a year and had it debut on the Xbox One instead. While it had its faults, Halo 4 was a solid game, and with another year for development, it could have been even better. Debuting it as a launch title would have easily handed the “best exclusives” title to Microsoft over SonySony. But instead, without it, we’re stuck debating whether or not the just-okay Killzone is better than the just-okay Dead Rising 3, and so on and so forth. Microsoft may have a slight edge in launch exclusives, but Halo 4 would have been something to give them a clear win, and it’s the one exclusive everyone would have been talking about.

Interestingly enough, I can see that something similar might have happened if Sony persuaded Naughty Dog to make The Last of Us a next-gen PS4 launch title instead of the last hurrah of the PS3. It’s not an established series, but again, it would have given Sony the “best exclusives” crown easily.

These kinds of debates about what may or may not have been a “system seller” are kind of pointless however, as both consoles have demonstrated that even without terribly impressive launch titles, the Xbox One and PS4 are flying off shelves. Both have moved well over a million units worldwide since launch, destroying previous launch sales records of the PS3 and Xbox 360. I don’t think Microsoft or Sony are second guessing their launch title decisions when both are selling systems hand over fist.

In Microsoft’s case, I think it’s a perfectly acceptable strategy for their big exclusive to be Titanfall in 2014 with Halo 5 coming in possibly 2015. Yes, Halo 4 as a launch title would have done wonders for the narrative of the Xbox One, but despite all the fuss about the system ahead of launch, it’s selling incredibly well even with just Dead Rising, Ryse and Forza as its front line. It’s possible Sony might be doing even better with literally only one exclusive worth playing, Killzone. The term “system seller” doesn’t really apply to this generation at the present time, though that will change in the future as both Sony and Microsoft will have to ensure their customers bet on the right horse for the long term.

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This is highly opinionated. At this point and time we are constantly bombarded by the FPS genre, so a FPS exclusive would fare no better than the ever popular CoD or BF. It’s not going to pull in a record haul like GTA V or receive praise like Bioshock Infinite (a story driven FPS) or The Last of Us. Basically, consumers are worn out and only fans of the series would appreciate a Halo 4 release on xbox one. Whether it would of pushed the xbox one ahead of the PS4 is purely up to the very same consumers who have readily available access to arguably better games as well.

And your response isn’t also highly opinionated as well? To compare COD or BF to Halo is a mistake. You’re talking about a game that is released every 2-3 years at best and has a HUGE cult following. If the audience, as you say is worn out then why are the current FPS’s selling like hotcakes on the next gen systems? Sure, I dont expect GTA sales (Let’s be fair GTA releases every 5-6 years vs annual releases for the FPS guys), but Halo would’ve been a title that can and would’ve pushed systems out the door (Then again, X1 is already sold out, so its a moot point, LOL)

What are you talking about? You develop games for the larger audience and currently thats XBox 360. They sold more HALO 4 copies than any previous generation of the game. And XBox One sold out the day of launch. So increasing demand for the console would only cause riots in the streets and not make them any more money. You have to pay like a $1000 for bundled packages right now. Its ridiculous. I LOVE MY XBOX ONE and it has TONS of free stuff and Microsoft produced a new title called “RYSE” which is EPIC. Halo was new once too, and to tell you the truth is kinda fading in popularity. So in reality, you’re criticism is unwarranted and you sound like a moron. I am looking forward to “HALO” coming next December which will only keep the momentum going for the next generation console thats obviously defeated PS4 in every category.

Another way to look at it is this- Microsoft knew that there were plenty of 360 owners out there who love Halo ($300 million worth sold in the first week) and there were plenty of people who were on the sidelines due to the horrible, if not downright terrible, public debut of the Xbox One. As the old saying goes “don’t put all of your eggs in one basket or don’t count all of your chickens before the eggs hatch” meaning Microsoft knew that if they were to release it on the older system it would fly off of store shelves faster, than if it were an exclusive launch title.

I have to respectfully disagree with you there, Ryan. One could argue that a Halo game debuting with X1 at launch would sell far faster than the 360 version as there is simply no competition right now. Forza? DR3? Ryse? All three of those, while fun wouldn’t compare to the juggernaut that is Halo. Now if we look at what makes more sense financially, of course releasing Halo on 360 makes more sense as the install base is far, far larger!

Very well stated Kevin. Basically all I was trying to say is yeah, the install base is far larger, which makes more cents to Microsoft. It is a debate to be had on both sides, which would have sold better? Who knows, we can theorize all we want. Thanks for your thoughts.

Both Sony and Microsoft did the right thing for releasing their last exclusive title on their previous gen system. Even though the Xbox one and PS4 have had a good start selling over 1M units, they are not making as much profit as they did with the PS3 and 360 a year ago. Since the previous consoles came out over 7 years ago, the cost for making an older console had decreased significantly. And by releasing one last exclusive on the older gen system, people who didnt have a console went and purchased a 360 or a ps3 because of how affordable the price was. Even though there are many die hard gamers who are willing to pay $400-$500 for a new console, there are still many moderate gamers who look at the price more than the system.

I really miss the good old halo titles. The last few have been pretty bad. One thing that i would recommend is to have a ranking system based off of winning games, not xp. I really liked halo 2 and 3 where it was more competitive because if you won you went up and if you lost you went down. Getting your first 50 was so rewarding. I think thats why the competitive scene hasn’t taken off in halo since then. Please put a competitive ranking system in!

It was possible to get to rank 50 in halo 2? Back when I played it every game you went into as soon as you hit level 40 there was some ass hole with a modded xbox. Remember back then Microsoft was giving out free 3 month or free 12 month xbox live subscriptions like candy which is why everyone was modding because it didnt matter if there free account got banned.

Would Halo 4 or The Last of Us been vastly better games with the improved processing power of next gen? Let them live on as the exclusive swan songs of two great systems. We have plenty of time to build the next great franchises and exclusives this gen.

I really don’t think Microsoft needs to justify why they didn’t have even less exclusives for the Xbox 360. What they really need to justify is pushing back all of their 360 games for the Xbox One launch. They also need to justify why they have so few first party developers that work on non-Kinect games.

Halo, what a stupid series that downgraded the gamer status for everybody… Bunch of shrubs with headsets pretending to play a shooter game. Sad. I remember when games used to take skill and require a little bit of attention span.

Really, everything makes sense from a business standpoint. Consumers were uneasy about 343 taking over Halo, so making Halo 4 the 360′s last hurrah gave Microsoft late-term 360 sales and tested the waters of how 343′s product would be received by consumers. Halo is Microsoft’s biggest exclusive franchise, so 343 had to knock Halo 4 out of the park, which the consensus now is that they did. Had Halo 4 flopped, the 2-3 year development cycle of a Halo game would have bought Microsoft the time they needed to replace 343 and get the next Halo game cranked out.

In short, putting Halo 4 on 360 was a safe investment and test run for a 343-made Halo. It was a smashing success, and now we’re left to impatiently wait two years for the next iteration.

No mystery here. There are around 80 million Xbox 360′s out there in consumer land. There are about 1 million Xbox Ones. For the same reason GTA5 didn’t go next gen, neither did Halo. There is still WAY more money to be made on a 360 title. Until the PS4 and XB1 hit around the 30 million mark, games are going to be cross platform and we probably won’t see many TRULY next gen games until around early to mid 2015. Fallout 4 will be announced in less than 2 weeks and will be out in roughly a year and even that is going cross platform. Most games in development, especially by 3rd parties are still using last gen as a benchmark.

I bought both systems. BATTLEFIELD 4 is a system seller – although not an exclusive that justifies buying one system over the next, or demonstrates the power of the specific system.

The PS4 and XBOX1 are roughly the same. PS4′s GDDR5 memory allows it to run games at launch in 1080p@60Hz, but XBOX can do that with Forza and will be able to do that with later games as well. I have my XBOX1 hooked to a Vizio 1080p TV and it looks fantastic. Many people don’t have big HDTVs and are playing on 32″ or smaller. Unless you are running the game on a 40-plus, you won’t notice 720p quality.

HALO isn’t really exciting to me. I wish it had debuted on the new system, but they are wetting appetites and testing the new XBOX Live network.

Because they wanted the money when it was done, because everybody with a Xbox 360 bought it and if it is available on the Xbox 1, might buy it again…..so what did they lose…..ditto for the other titles, those who wanted BF or COD also bought it early and will buy it again if they buy a new console to play multiplayer.

Because Forza 5 is the XBONE’s exclusive system seller, you nitwits! If I could get that game for the PC, I’d have no reason to be tempted to consider getting an XBONE, but damn, if those graphics are only a first gen launch title for the XBONE, it’s only gonna be even more tempting to buy one later!

I’m glad Halo 4 was released as one of the last 360 games instead of one of the X1 games. I’m not one to buy consoles the second they come out, so for me I was much more likely to buy Halo 4 close to when it came out on 360 then I would’ve been if it only came out on X1.